Involving people in e-health: results from a UK research study on the potential of ICTs to support weight management

Marshall, Audrey, Henwood, Flis, Carlin, L., Guy, Elizabeth and Smith, H.
(2011)
Involving people in e-health: results from a UK research study on the potential of ICTs to support weight management
In: ISHIMR 2011: Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Symposium for Health Information Management Research, 2011, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract

This paper discusses Net.Weight, a research study which examined the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support people managing their weight. The context for Net.Weight was an acknowledgement that technology has a role to play in enabling wider engagement in the shaping of health care and services, but also that there is a need for more critical reflection about where and how technology can best be applied. It uses an existing three-level model of involvement: information, feedback and participation, to discuss the findings. It also makes use of the distinction, in the same model, between individual and group modes of involvement. It concludes that, with facilitation, people operate on a continuum, moving through the information, feedback and participation levels and that they operate in both individual and group modes. This has implications for health policy shaping as well as for an understanding of information and health literacy.

Item Type:

Contribution to conference proceedings in the public domain
( Full Paper)